


set it running free

by lesbianjackrackham



Series: lungs [5]
Category: Wolf 359 (Radio)
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-26
Updated: 2019-06-26
Packaged: 2020-05-19 22:56:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19365451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lesbianjackrackham/pseuds/lesbianjackrackham
Summary: “Hey,” says Doug.“Fuck off,” is the resigned reply.





	set it running free

_epilogue_

The door to the Observation Deck slides open with a soft hiss, and he lingers a moment just outside before crossing the threshold into the room. From what he can tell, Jacobi’s cuffs are still on, but he shuts and locks the door behind him anyway.

“Hey,” says Doug.

“Fuck off,” is the resigned reply. Jacobi’s facing the observation windows and the blue star blazing on the other side of the glass, the glow of it reflecting off his cheeks.

“Nah.”

“Seriously. Go bother someone else.”

“No one really left to bother.” At that Jacobi flinches and lunges for him in a startling burst of energy, straining at the short reach of his cuffs.

“What the hell did you—” He snarls, and Doug holds his hands up, wincing.

“Phrasing! Sorry! Everyone’s— I just mean, I already bothered them. They’re fine. I mean, still, you know, locked up, but...”

“Jesus fuck, Eiffel.” Jacobi collapses back against the wall. “You want to give me anything other than ‘fine’?”

“Maxwell won’t talk to me.”

“No shit. And Kepler?”

“He won’t stop talking.” Jacobi grunts and squints at him.

“So what, you saved the best for last? I’ve had nothing but Lovelace for occasional snide comment with meal delivery.”

“I wasn’t allowed on prisoner duty.”

“So what— You know, actually, I don’t even care. Go back to playing house with your new friends.”

“Jealous much?”

“Fuck. You. You betrayed us!”’

“Me? Remember how Kepler knew about Lovelace and still let them put her blood in me?”

“You lived because of that blood. You couldn’t handle the synthetic—”

“He still knew. And he didn’t tell me.”

“It was need to know.”

“Fuck that, I _needed_ to know.”

“You choked me out.”

“You pointed your gun at me then tried to choke me out.”

“I thought you were an alien double.”

“Please,” says Doug. “Like any alien wouldn’t wake up as me and immediately jump out an airlock.”

“Eiffel—”

“I had it under control! I had control of the situation, and he shot Lovelace in the fucking head just to see what would happen.”

“She’s not human.”

“Yeah, well, then what the hell am I? Jesus, is there any part of you that’s willing to question his decisions? For fucks sake, Daniel. This isn’t cute anymore. He. Fucked. Up. He withheld information from all three of us and he fucked with my fucking DNA. That’s not how we do things.”

“So what? You’re with them now? After—”

“I don’t know! Jesus, I don’t know. But I’m not. With Kepler. That much I know.” Jacobi doesn’t say anything else, just leans back against the wall. Doug clears his throat. “Are. Are you.”

“I’m not with anyone,” Daniel says, closing his eyes and gesturing at the empty room. “I’m alone here.” The silence echoes, and Doug itches to move closer. He’s exhausted from the work of the past few weeks, putting everything back in order, reconciling with his new realities and the haunting loneliness of pieces missing and replaced in him. He’s spent his limited downtime running the tapes back, every choice, every instinct, every move he might have misread, and still he can’t find the tipping point, the place of inevitability, of any of it. There was nothing to change; it was out of his control from the start.

Well. Some of it, at least,

“That first night. In my apartment.” He says slowly, and Jacobi stiffens. “You broke in even though I was in there. You didn’t pick the lock. You didn’t _knock_ , which is what a normal person would have done. At first I thought it was just you being you. Breaking things. Bring an ass. But it was... Maybe you didn’t want the possibility that I would close the door in your face or lock you out again.

“I never fixed the lock, you know. I mean, you know, because you came back to my apartment a lot after that but. I don’t know. At first I was planning to make you do something about it, or at least pay for it, and then I figured I didn’t really have anything worth protecting.” He pauses, listening to the hum of the station and Jacobi’s shallow breathing. “Maybe that was the problem all along. Not thinking I deserved any kind of... Letting the two of you, just.” He huffs. “Not that I didn’t, you know.”

“Are you saying I—”

“No. No. I mean it wasn’t healthy, but.”

“You told him no.”

“After a year. And look how he took it.”

“Still.” Jacobi looks down at his lap

“Yeah, but I think you’re honest to god in love with him so.” Jacobi hums, neither in protest or agreement.

“C’mere,” Jacobi says after a minute.

“What?”

“Just—” he pats the spot next to him. Doug squints.

“I’m like 90% sure you’re going to try and escape.”

“And the other ten percent?” _That you’re going to try and kill me,_ he doesn’t say.

Doug moves to sit next to him. Their legs brush as they bob next to the wall, Jacobi’s cuffs tapping in the gentle movement. He didn’t bring any weapons inside, but he still flinches a little when Jacobi reaches his bound hands to him. His fingers hesitate, just above Doug’s chin, before lacing their way into the front of his suit, gently gripping the fabric. And then he rests his face into the crook of Doug’s neck, his nose cool against Doug’s skin.

The station rattles as the Urania undocks, sending a flare of light and debris across their view.

“They offered me a spot, you know,” Doug says.

“Cutter’s going to shoot them out of orbit,” Daniel says, but he doesn’t move away.

“Maybe,” he says. “Maybe.”

As for the rest of them: maybe they’ll all get sucked into the star, or the Dear Listeners will replace them with body doubles, or maybe Cutter will come and rescue them, or he’ll let them all slowly starve out here.

Maybe there’s some new kind of horror waiting for them in the bowels of the station.

Maybe his team will take him out of the picture for good.

Jacobi doesn’t react when Doug uncuff him, just angles his wrists so Doug can access the locks.

There’s something electric under his skin, and it might be the alien blood pumping through his veins or it might just be the thrill of it all.

Of whatever’s next.

**Author's Note:**

> I keep writing a deleting a long note here, but the essence is this: a huge thank you to everyone who came along this journey with me <3


End file.
